Duran Duran boards the witch’s train in ‘Danse Macabre’

It may not seem like it but Duran Duran He has always been there, with occasional breaks, since 1978, but he never left and periodically presented new albums to the service of his followers. The last one was “The future is the past” (2021) and now Simon Le Bon and his team created a strange work: ‘Danse macabre’Designed to animate this festival of pagan origins and turned into a commercial event, we know it as (here too). Halloween.

An album mixing new songs (three) and both other artists’ versions and pieces of their past worksall related to the thematic connection of the alleged dialogue with the afterlife. Playing with some humor and a certain ‘malrollismo’: look at this black and white cover, which reproduces a photograph of a distant spiritualist scene, apparently Nick Rhodes (keyboard player), purchased at auction. In short, we can already see that the issue has aroused great interest at Duran Duran headquarters.

family reunited

The idea came from a Halloween concert the band held in Las Vegas last year. It all happened pretty quickly, and his creativity yielded nothing more than creating those three songs that can be heard even if they don’t change the course of planet Earth. Title song ‘Danse macabre’ attracts attention ominous ritual atmosphere. Then the bright funk of ‘Black Moonlight’ with (partially) recovered guitars Andy Taylor and your guru Neil Rodgers (The band’s high point produced ‘Notorious’, 1986). Yes, this move served to save and promote his former accomplices specific family reunification effectas it is also left by the disk Warren CuccurulloHe served as president of the group between 1989 and 2001. The third of the new songs, ‘Confession in the Afterlife’, closes the tour with a soft, abracadabra track.

This material is interspersed with replays from their past, somewhat adjusted to the situation, such as ‘Nightboat’, which is less synth-pop and more serious than 1981’s. And a number of versions parade to unequal success on the track chart. ‘Spellbound’ by Siouxsie and the Bansheesit wins in special effects and loses its original primitiveness along the way. ‘Paint it black’ by the Rolling StonesDressed for the witch train sounds a bit parodic. And on the attack ‘Bury a friend’ Almost nothing remains of the suffocating darkness that marked Billie Eilish.

The last ‘cover’, ‘Psychkiller’ by Talking HeadsIt’s an excuse to make the party longer (it’s not even related to the song’s funeral theme), with powerful bass from Victoria de Angelis (Måneskin). And what remains, in short, is a fun album that uses Halloween in a casual spirit similar to all horror comedies with gloomy pumpkins and clowns threatening you with sledgehammers. Jordi Bianciotto

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